ChatBot Time For eCommerce

ChatBot for eCommerce will be a new digital transformation element that will change the games and dynamics of ecommerce and the market.

It is a few days since the release of the usual report, which is certainly useful for making the point on the e-commerce market, but which I take as a starting point to introduce the topic of ChatBot in eCommerce strategies.

The report indicates how using ChatBot in an eCommerce can improve interactivity and conversion coefficient. The assumption comes from the evidence of how users who use the Live Chat service spend between 5% and 30% on average, and that the conversion rate is 5 to 10 times higher than a session of Chat.

ChatBot for eCommerce are not lacking

Burger King offers its customers the opportunity to order food through the ChatBot Burger King on Facebook Messenger, the Bot allows you to sort out the menu and show nearby restaurants where you can retire the same order that you pay via App, where you also receive an estimate of the time within which the order will be ready.

TacoBot is the fast-food Taco Bell ChatBot on the Slack Platform that allows customers to order food by sending a simple message, then puts the questions they need to send the purchased products.

Other fast food chains such as Domino, Pizza Hut and Wingstop they use ChatBot to receive orders, as customers in the Whole Foods grocery chain can use a ChatBot Messenger to chat with an experienced Cooking Intelligent Artifact (AI) and find the favorite recipes using simple and fun emotions.

L’Oréal Canada is getting ready to launch a Bot Messenger of conducting studies on potential questions and answers that customers can ask. The company is also monitoring the evolution of messaging platforms and their potential for both commercial and customer service applications.

On Kik (app / platform used by about 40% of American teenagers) H & M, Sephora and Victoria’s Secret have introduced their own ChatBot. Here’s Celeb Style, the ChatBot that looks at celebrity looks and tells users where they can buy the various elements of the outfit.

The Mobile explosion has been a bit overwhelmed and we have just learned that there is an App for almost everything, which means that we have just become accustomed to their daily use and that we already have the prospect of replacing our primary form of interaction digital. Not that app disappear, but these “Messaging Bots” could replace all the simple and basic applications that we have on our telephones with shuffles of simple conversations. Many Bots may already replace (they are already beginning to do so) many of these elementary applications in a single, cloud-based Bot, so they do not even hurt the free space of your phone; no unused Bot will weigh ourselves as the applications that lie on our phones. But let’s take a step back.

What are Bots?

The Bots are essentially an automated program that can operate within an App without having their own App. The Bots are often visible on messaging platforms (Telegram, Messenger, WeChat) and hence their declination like ChatBot, but have long been used to program actions (posting in HootSuite) or even content retrieval (Siri is in fact a “Content Bot”, which Siri is, what are today’s news?).

These ChatBots actually try to replicate the experience you have with your friends while you work with your company. In fact, they are guided by a set of default rules that helps them find a “smart” response to users’ questions. For example, a Facebook ChatBot, instead of making you go over and over the corporate website, with few relevant questions, will bring you the products you are looking for. All in a few quirks and pleasantly.

The most interesting, or most promising part, is that Bot uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools as a natural language processing tool (NLP) to understand and emulate conversation between people and use learning tactics automatic machine learning to better evolve their user’s understanding of the user: the more you use a Bot, the more you will understand what you need.

The Advantages of Bot’s Development

A Bot generally works in “Cloud”, which means it automatically updates and has instant access to your phone: just start talking to a Bot and have all that it needs. While the first implementations are still on the border between pastime and utility, the implications for the future of services and commerce are impressive.

Compared to the applications the Bot has several advantages …

1. Bot development is relatively fast and can “spin” on almost all messaging platforms or anything else.
2. Growing Bot users base is simple as it is native to platforms.
3. The Bot makes it easier for something people like to do: communicate verbally.
4. Updating, correcting, and evolving Bot is much faster than App
5. They are easy to use to buy something. Basically, a user can open their own messaging platform and ask the Bot for a product, choose the desired product, confirm the address, the price, and whether you are using your usual payment method; that’s all.

Benefits of using ChatBot in an eCommerce website

Messaging applications have quickly become the most widely used application of most people, the fastest the penetration of eCommerce dynamics in messaging applications, the more the Bot market will grow.

ChatBot is a form (for now very simplified) of artificial intelligence that can transform eCommerce by introducing the concept of conversational interface. These automated programs interact with humans by voice input and output or text: just as you could start talking to a human on a chat, you can “chat” with a Bot that works in the chat interface.

Banally, when they are browsing online, users are connected to Facebook. You can then use Messenger to confirm orders or to provide instant online support, transforming ChatBot in a brilliant and convenient way to provide semi-automatic customer service via Social, which is now more a requirement than an option. In essence, they are using these “Social Media Bots” to “humanize automation” of parts of the order process, customer interaction, support and support issues management, and the presentation of up-sell options or cross-sell and, last but not least, to build (unexpectedly) emotional relationships.

In online sales, ChatBot can help differentiate our proposal into the competitive arena with competing eCommerce. Now, the question remains … How do ChatBots help you sell online? What are the benefits of using ChatBot in an eCommerce? Let’s try to sketch scenarios …

Sales

A ChatBot can automate order processes and help someone make a buying decision. The user experience might begin by presenting some options or questions that require simple responses of the yes / no type before submitting additional questions or performing action based on the collected information. By working directly into chat, ChatBot will ask for a question after question, until you propose the right product (in an ideal process). The user with a conversation can then purchase the item without leaving the chat.

Everyone appreciates the personal approach, in particular, loyal customers. If the ChatBot has already collected some information about them, they will provide the customer with the necessary things. ChatBot could communicate coupons, discounts, offers, answer questions about products that are no longer available, and notify customers (if they like) when they are available again. It may ask for reviews and comments from customers and deliver shipping notifications.

The online sale could be greatly distorted by the advent of such a ChatBot and this is exactly the point.

Up-Selling and Cross-Selling

ChatBots could provide the right recommendations based on the single user’s shopping history. In this way, we could increase online store sales by offering similar, complementary, or alternative products to those already purchased.

This customization of the business proposal through a “conversational sale” (as it once) could be a new way to offer a personalized customer experience where ChatBots available all day serve the potential buyer with customized recommendations based on their preferences and requirements. Finally yet importantly, this may be considered by some customers as a more entertaining and entertaining shopping experience.

Abandonment

Unmanaged Orders Another advantage of investing in ChatBot during the development of the eCommerce store is that they may follow abandoned carts and unfinished orders. They can re-engage potential customers by sending customized messages to complete their orders. In addition, ChatBot may “chat” with them on the reasons why they left incomplete order. They could also handle data on outdated or “insufficient quantities” and inform buyers once they are back in stock with good availability.

Re-marketing

The best way to win customers in eCommerce is re-marketing. You can do so by email, SMS or advertising. Email is incredibly competitive, but the buying process is long. SMS reaches the customer directly, but it is difficult to get the phone number of the user. ADV ads work fine, but they can be very annoying and end up blocking, not building relationships with your customers.

Now we consider a ChatBot. The potential customer addresses your brand on Facebook Messenger and your ChatBot answers all of your questions. The user may purchase the product the ChatBot proposes or may leave the conversation. In both cases, you now have an excellent re-marketing channel; you know what was the last conversation and why he left it. A ChatBot platform could now segment the contacts based on when / why they left and then send targeted win back messages to try to retrieve them. The best part is that these messages will go straight to their messaging application, not by email or SMS, and which they could immediately buy from within the chat.

Customer Service Customer

Frequently asked questions, product information, service bookings, returns and complaints; a ChatBot can be trained in dealing with numerous situations.

On the efficiency side are available 24/7 and provide consistent service; the waiting time is reduced and buyers receive instant feedback to their questions. On the convenience side, ChatBot seems ruthlessly competitive: they are a one-time investment, and training / evolution costs are scalable because it works on multiple clients at the same time, which makes them more convenient than hiring or outsourcing of customer service agents or budget to maintain a call center.

Analytics

In the business of eCommerce, it is very important to analyze the sales funnel. Understand how and why so many people came to you and then did not buy, it requires analysis, data analysis. Of course, your website has Analytics, but customers who chat with you in chat no. The Bot (or rather its analytics platform) would add the ability to know when and why your customers are leaving the buying process based on the context of the conversation. New data to consider, new ideas to improve. What questions do they make? What is the product you are looking for? Are you satisfied with the structure of your landing page? All this information could help you improve your marketing strategy and provide your customers with a better user experience.

Reputation

All major brands use or are considering using this “technology”.

Do you think that not using them could be considered a sign of weakness / opacity / inability?

One of the two answers to this question could cost you dearly.

Game changer

About ChatBot, Microsoft’s CEO (Satya Nadella) has basically stated that the APPs were dead and Bloomberg has recently posted significant growth rates for this market. Marked apart, it can be said that although it is unlikely that they can completely replace APPs, BOTs (and virtual assistants) will be a new element of change, “digital transformation”; an evolutionary moment that will change the games and dynamics of eCommerce.